


Who am I?

by koalaboy



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Eddie is trans, Gen, Other, gcpd officers are trash, jim gordon is Good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-10 23:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12922287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalaboy/pseuds/koalaboy
Summary: Edward Nygma goes only by the Riddler. He is, himself, a riddle, and he is determined to keep it that way, but others look deep in to his past to try to solve him.





	Who am I?

A simple bank robbery. That's all Edward had set it up to look like. It was, in fact, an extensive revenge plot against none other than the doctor who had dismissed his need for hormone replacement therapy. It was years ago, and Edward had acquired testosterone by his own means by now, but the action had not been forgotten, as was often the case with The Riddler. He huffs and rubs his shoulder awkwardly against his nose in an effort to clean up some of the blood that slowly dripped its way down his face thanks to the Batman's unappreciated interruption of his personal vendetta in disguise. That was the trouble with leaving clues to your hideout - sometimes the idiots that were after you stumbled upon an answer. Although, this time Edward was sure it was the result of a mere google search. He'd have to start making contraptions that blocked that kind of cowardly and brainless behavior.

He watches the police officer that sits opposite him, documenting his every move. His cuffed hands rest in his lap and the chain jingles as he picks anxiously at his nails; a habit he had yet to kick.

"Edward Nygma," taunts the police officer, "E. Nygma. How very fitting."

Despite being drawn out of his thoughts, a sly smile creeps on to Ed's face. He was a sucker for praise.

"Why, thank you, officer-...?"

"Blake."

"Officer Blake," Ed finishes. 

So, the Batman had dropped him off at the GCPD to deal with these lowlifes again. How absolutely boring. Eddie was starting to get a little offended that the Bat assumed the GCPD or Arkham, for that matter, were suitable enough to hold a man of his intellect prisoner.

The other man wasn't sweating, wasn't even breaking eye contact. Ed frowns slightly, his brows coming together to crease his forehead in confusion. Sure, he didn't look so threatening in cuffs, but he liked to think he could still spook a few donut-eating desk cops.

Blake tosses a file on to the desk between them and opens it up for Ed to see, who beams down at pictures of himself.

"Gosh, I sure am a handsome devil," he muses, almost far too genuinely.

Blake scoffs, "You know, Edward--"

"My _friends_ call me Edward. _You_ can call me Riddler," Ed snaps. His glare is unwavering and cold.

Blake clears his throat, the hand that comes to cover his mouth swipes Edward across the face with a loud crack as knuckles connect with Ed's cheek. 

"You don't have any friends, Edward."

Edward glares, fire burning behind his eyes as he recovers from the blow.

"I did some digging. And I mean actual digging, not GCPD half-arsed digging. And I discovered that up until four years ago Edward Nygma didn't even exist! Which really does make you an enigma, now doesn't it?"

Despite the compliment, there is a hostile tone under the words. Ed's mouth curls in to a defensive snarl. He suddenly felt cornered and didn't appreciate it.

"See, here's the thing about me, Riddler, I like to solve puzzles almost as much as you," Blake continues.

An obvious lie, the man in front of Ed was no more than a schoolyard bully. If he had liked to solve puzzles, he would have figured out that Ed was slowly working away at the handcuffs in his lap with a tiny device he held up his sleeve. Typical Gotham police force. It wasn't that they made it easy for him, it was just that Ed was so very superior in every way.

"And I thought 'I wonder if there's any paper records on this guy?' So I went looking and I found a last name: Nashton. But here's the really good part," Blake takes a dramatic pause, "Edward Nashton doesn't exist. Not anywhere. No social security number, no dental records, not even a goddamn birth certificate."

Ed's lips twitch downward into a grimace and his unaffected façade fractures. His thumb slips and he almost drops the device. His heart races and his mouth is dry. This was impossible. _Impossible_.

"I looked up the family tree, then, didn't I? And I found somethin' real interesting," Blake says, pausing for dramatic effect yet again. Edward was growing tired of it. "I found out that the baby Mr and Mrs Nashton had wasn't an Edward, in fact, it wasn't a boy at all. It was a girl... and her name was Melissa. And I think that's you."

The name was like a thousand kicks to the stomach and Ed doubles over as if it had been. All the fear, all the anger of those years of abuse, torment, and oppression comes back. Suddenly, he is fifteen years old and fending off his father with a frying pan because he cut his hair short; he is eleven and bent over, the buckle of his father's belt leaving scars as he's hit because he'd asked over dinner what was so bad about being gay. In a blind, harrowing fit of rage, Edward launches from his seat and grips Blake's throat, his thumbs pressing in as hard as they could. _Nobody can know that name, nobody can know that name_. Alarms sound. They must have been watching on security cameras. Ed feels the officer go limp under his hands and he doesn't bother to check if he's still got a pulse. He takes a step back, the cuffs fall to the floor along with Blake. The door opens and officers draw their guns, a doctor from Arkham draws a syringe and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"I am the Riddler!" He cries, anger causing his voice to become gravelly, "I am the Riddler and no one shall know me as anything different! Your intellects are no match for mine! Mark my words, I will find those papers that deceive me, I will be back!" 

He throws the first punch, kicks and screams like a madman. If he was going to be sedated like an inmate at Arkham, he was very well going to give them a good show. His arm is held down to the table and he fights, but three to one isn't a fair battle. Edward didn't like it when things weren't fair.

"I am the Riddler, I am Edward Nygma!" 

"Well, hold fucking still, Edward," grumbles the doctor as they push the needle in to his arm. 

Edward. He relaxes; partially from the drugs and partially from the euphoria his name brings. His eyelids want to close, but he resists as long as he can. 

"Eddie, you'll be okay," comes a voice from behind.

Edward recognizes it as Commissioner Gordon's. He knew that man from domestic disturbance reports at his house when he was a child. Gordon had been the first to use his real name, the first to pat him on the back and call him 'bud'. Ed allows his eyes to close and his body slumps against the officers pinning him down.

Gordon makes a mental note to have Blake reprimanded.


End file.
